Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the management of information handling systems. More specifically, embodiments of the invention provide a system, method, and computer-readable medium for automating the procurement of a physical server when the remaining number of available servers in a server pool reaches a predetermined threshold value.
Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
The use of such information handling systems in cloud computing, which delivers the use of hardware and software computing resources as a service over a network, has become increasingly popular in recent years. At its core, cloud computing is based upon the concept of leveraging a converged infrastructure and shared services to achieve coherence and economies of scale. As such, cloud computing is typically implemented in centralized or distributed data center environments that are managed to maximize resource availability and reliability.
One aspect of cloud computing is the use of virtualization, which allows a single resource, such as a server, an operating system, an application, or storage device appear to function as multiple logical resources. Conversely, virtualization can also make multiple physical resources, such as storage devices or servers, appear as a single logical resource. In general, virtualization of physical resources is managed through a management console, such as a virtual machine manager (VMM), implemented on physical servers. These management consoles allow multiple operating systems, typically referred to as guests, to run concurrently on a host computer and operate as virtual servers.
One advantage to virtualization is the ability of a VMM to assign the most appropriate mix of hardware and software resources to each virtual server. As a result, the utilization of a data center's service infrastructure can be optimized. However, while VMMs and other management consoles are effective at managing the assignment of available resources, they lack the ability to proactively predict the need for additional physical servers and automatically initiate their procurement. Furthermore, there is currently no known approach to automating the configuration and customization of such a servers prior to initiating the procurement process.